Month End Review- July

Month Summary

Goal: 200/345k hands reached 

Hours: 121 hours put in                                         Money: ~7k          

Peak of the month was about half way through the month, at which point I encountered a downswing.

Took half a week off, and slowly climbed back up a tad bit.

Healthy Living

Started the month on Nicotine Patches as a method of trying to quit smoking.

Worked out 4-5x a week with heavy weights. 

Ate "relatively" clean, with the exception of 

Wings night out

Gelato 3-4x a week at most.

All you can eat sushi

A 'July Reflection; August Goals post will be posted tomorrow with in-depth' short comings will be discussed more thoroughly.

Time Management. Tilt Management. Table Selection. Self-Control.  

Saturday Mornin'

First session today, felt like the longest 3k hands I've played in my life. Took absolutely forever to get through.

Huge swing at the 1.5-1.7k hand mark,





Biggest Losing Hand: Just absolutely disgusting. . . was pretty happy when I got 3bet, was pretty happy to 4bet, was a tad nervous when they shove ''usually it's AK/QQ''.

For someone unknown reason the weaker players at this stake have no clue how to play AK when they don't make a pair in 3bet pots, and the same players are clueless in playing QQ on Ace or King - High boards. ~ And just plain shove.

A6s

Totally knew I had best hand ;)

Late Night Session-

Late night sessions. . . should probably be avoided.

Was about to call it a day after losing tree-fiddy. . . but figured a heavy bag session and a 3km jog will help lighten things up.

Also figured since I was already behind pace by a bit this month a little bit of extra volume can't hurt, and considering the 100nl-Zoom Fullring games were running at 1am pst. . just absolutely irresistible!

One of the worst sessions I've had in awhile, not only did I get cooler situations left and right, was definitely not playing my A-game.

This brings my total downswing for today to -10bi's. Despite how common a 10bi downswing is, I felt it could've been easily minimized had I played a lot better.

Few situations where I kept trying to turn hands into bluffs. . .


Note for Tomorrow
1. Focus more energy on getting Value
2. Focus more energy on not bluffing so much.
3. Try not to get into pre-flop wars . . . [post-flop's where the money's at]

Unfortunate Day - Tree Fiddy

Due to the late night blogging of yesterday on my 'Homeless Interviews' today's grind sessions were cut short.

I mean, you can't always win. . . you just try and win more than you lose in the long run.

Day Graph

                                                                                                                                                     Started the day off really well, owning everyone in  sight. (Actually it was more like flopping the nuts on  every single table and getting paid off vs 2nd nuts.)









So far have been lacking in volume for the month. . . definitely going to try and kick it up a notch more tomorrow. Going to head to bed early and have a killer grind day tomorrow.

Shortly before my session ended, Butchen and I were getting into wars.

Chat box was hilarious when the river came a heart =), when he checked back on the turn, immediately put him capped on QK/AK.

Tanked a bit on the river, was thinking between betting or shipping. In hindsight probably shipping is better since it looks much scarier and isn't much more expensive.

The hand that broke the camel's back.

Then again. . . I didn't think he'd ever raise this river, so betting may just be the tad cheaper more +EV option.


I think I started to play a tad bit more aggressive the last couple days. . . a much more bluffing style.

Probably should pull back on that for a bit, and for the most part keep my aggression pinpoint.

Playing a super LAGGY game is actually quite very tilting, as opposed to a TAG or . . more passive game =X.

Day Trip Around Vancouver

Due to the particularly sunny day and my desire to explore a little bit more of the beautiful city I reside in I took a day off.

Deciding to take the trip towards the ''sketch'' part of Downtown Vancouver east-side the "ghetto".

Anticipating the the tagging and graffiti that would've been a result of "Specific Gang Territory" I came across these.


For cultural and stereotypical reasons my guess is that the Red Dragon is probably affiliated with the Chinese New Years gang.

The Graffiti on the right is probably a vandalism done by the 'Japanese Anime and Manga Gang'.




Last but not least, let's not forget the representative of the 'Simpson Triads' who has marked the largest canvas of vandalism within my explorations.






All jokes aside, don't want to unintentionally offend the  these were by far the most artistic expressions I've stumbled upon whilst strolling throughout the inner city.

Started HomelessTale. A compilation of all my personal encounters/interviews/talks with the homeless of Vancouver.

Beautiful Thursday in Vancouver

                                                              

It's a beautiful sunny morning here in Vancouver, woke up a tad late due to the late night session last night ~ the 100- zoom fr tables don't seem to run every since the Zoom and Boom promotions expired. Went out for a nice run, and decided not going to grind today.

Redbull & Date Square

                    There's a bakery nearby that has just the most amazing date squares. 

Unlike the usual 'blenz or starbucks' kind, these are actually quite soft and packed with minced dates instead of a thick hard ground oats and sugar outside.

Will be out enjoying the weather until the evening time; hopefully there's going to be action at the zoom games.~ 

Mid Month Update #July

Only 144k hands played for the month so far, and roughly 17 days has passed; this means I'm roughly 48k hands behind pace!

Some of it is due to the fact I've been hitting the gym much more frequently . . . the very very very infrequent string of great weather here in Van, VIP club coming to Vancouver.

Biggest Pot this month; Cooler Everyone 4way.

On a lighter note I've been averaging approximately 1484 hands/ hour for the entire month; near the higher range of my typical hands.










First 30-40k hands was a ridiculous 18 hour grind session that resulted in almost a 10bi downswing, and a full season of 'American Dad reruns'.

Last couple days also dabbled into 6-max zoom, but due to how prone I am to tilt and spew at 6-max, an easy 8 bi drop happened between 3-4 sessions.





Summary-
[ ] no more 6 max for a while.
[ ] no more ridiculous long sessions
[ ] keep on truck'n

Supernova Elite 2013

So apparently it's a little bit over half way through the year; and many who have attempted their first shot at the chase for 'Supernova Elite 2013' have given up. 

Let's see a breakdown of it.

1,000,000 vpp's - 3.5mil FPP's-56,000  (starting at supernova, tad less at bronze star)
milestones + stellar = 44,500
=100k~ roughly the first year.

http://www.pokerstars.com/vip/supernova/elite/



Halfway mark- Game Plan 

This year over about 500k hands of 100nl full ring both zoom and ring games, I've averaged approximately 0.25vpp/hand.

Sitting on 530k vpp's I will need approximately 1.88m more hands at 100nl fr.

There is 166 days left in the year meaning averaging 11.3k hands a day for the remainder of the year; this shouldn't be too difficult considering I'm averaging between 1200-1500 hands / hour between; 4 tabling zoom-fr ; 4 tabling + 12 regular tables; as well as 16-20 tabling regular tables.

This is assuming A) I do not mix in 200nl fr games 'hence not increasing my VPP/hand
                         B) Do not engage in 6max/ PLO/ other forms of the game.

The goal will be to play as much as 100nl full-ring that is possible when possible and not miss out on too many days of grinding.


So close but yet so far Scenario

At any given point where the projected 'near future' estimation of yearly vpp's is between the 900k-950k vpp range. A certain risk must be evaluated.

Ending year with 900k VPP vs SNE
- 20k milestone at SNE
- 5x multiplier v 3.5x multiplier

If SNE chase resulted in marginal failure this year, however is reached next year. The difference in cost is roughly : 20k + [(5-3.5)*1,000,000*0.016]= $44,000.


At which point; a last minute sprint plan for SNE will be drafted up.

Short Summary Reaching SNE 100nl FR - 2013

         Stars VIP = 100k~        Hands/Hr; 1200-1500            
                                                Hours Required; 2666-3333

                                                Hourly

1bb/100= 40k~                        42$-->52$
1.5bb/100= 60k~                     48$-->60$
2bb/100= 80k~                        54$-->67$
3bb/100= 120k~                      66$-->82$


When you put the numbers in perspective. . .all of a sudden a rake back pro is making more than the average hourly of the middle class.

VIP- Vancouver Re-Cap

The VIP Live hosted by PokerStars in Vancouver was the first and one of the most amazing experiences I have ever been to.

Open bar, food, drinks, prizes. Unfortunately didn't win the TAG heur aquaracer. . . however had an opportunity to meet some amazing people.

Meeting some of the local 'pros' really put me at ease in realizing there are 'others like me' out there; and that I wasn't the crazy kid with the dream.  It's a definite 'must' for all aspiring pros out there to meet pros in real life, turns out we're all normal people who do normal things. 

               

                                                     Group Photo with Vanessa Rousso

                                                                

Just chill'n with Nanonoko

     Randy 'Nanonoko' Lew, definitely one of my heros to look up to. If you're ever wondering why I'm always at the tables... or how I ever put in that much volume; this is it.

His amazing win rate, ridiculous amount of volume, and consistent results over the years all whilst playing one of the relatively unorthodox styles in the poker community. . . 

You'd think he's a 'nit' being the amount of tables he has to juggle at the higher stakes . . . just watch him play for a bit. 

Tyler Frost & Daniel Liu

Had a chance to talk to frosty012 later on in the night,  since he went to 'UBC' as well. Tyler grinds at the same stakes as me and it was very nice to put a face to the 'villain' ;).